Wake me up if I'm dreaming
by hazydaze
Summary: Gwen suffers from terrible nightmares, but what will she do about it? Hints at JackxGwen


Gwen Cooper suffered nightmares since she was a child. Her mind would fill itself with dark caverns, high precipices to which she would promptly be thrown off into the clutches of an over imagined demon. More than that Gwen would always feel a heavy weight on her chest; like she was being suffocated by her own fear.

It wasn't until she began work at Torchwood, that she questioned whether or not it might be more. Plucking up the courage had been hard, but Gwen's overwhelming anxiety was no good to her either. Jack had nodded in strategic places, mmmed and aahed in the correct places before agree that Gwen's theory was worth investigating.

"You'll have to stay down in my room. It's the only one with a bed and room to manoeuvre." Jack said quietly. Gwen found that more unnerving than if he had asked her to take of her clothes.

"Sure." Gwen nodded lamely, no words at her disposal.

--

Thunder clapped in the air over the speaker system in the Hub as Gwen sat down on one of Jack's comfy chairs. Gwen cursed the weather for being so -- ominous.

Jack offered her an assuring smile, "You'll be fine, Gwen."

Gwen looked up at Jack offered her a glass of water. She took it with one hand, a light brush against Jack's fingers and smiled up at him. Again, Jack's face was plastered with that reassuring smile. Gwen drew deeply from the glass, realising how thirsty she really was.

Jack took the glass from her, which Gwen found odd until her head began to droop momentarily after. Gwen looked up at Jack with a frown, her voice slurred "Jack?"

"Just sleep." The deep voice told Gwen, her mind slowly disintegrating into slumber.

--

Gwen stood atop the highest building in Cardiff, her body trembling as she was paralysed from moving either way. The weight pressed down on Gwen even further, pushing, insisting.

_Jump_.

"No." Gwen shouted. The swirling cascade of rain continued, its droplets forcing Gwen to close her eyes.

_Do it_.

Suddenly a white light flash blinded Gwen, her already disorientated mind blurred further.

--

A gasp and a gulp of air later, Gwen woke up in Jack's arms, his warm voice in her ear. It wouldn't last, Gwen slapped his arm, hard, "What the fuck, Jack?!"

"You were right, it was a night terror. I had to put you under and have you stay under. Only way I could stop it." Jack gestured to his Webly laying on the coffee table not far from them.

"Night terror, that's what it's called?" Gwen asked, still severely shaken.

Jack shook his head in a no gesture, "Just that's easier to pronounce."

"…and it's dead?" Gwen questioned without seeing the black suited up body bag.

Jack nodded, "Deader than dead."

"It…it tried to get me to kill myself." Gwen admitted.

"It knew it was in danger. Last ditch attempt to save its life. You for it." Jack continued as he absently rubbed Gwen's thigh comfortingly.

Gwen put her hand to her forehead, a sharp pain shooting through her skull, Jack pushed Gwen back down on the bunk, "You should sleep, really sleep. The drug in your system needs to work itself out or you're going to feel worse than ass tomorrow."

"Thanks Jack."

"Anything for you, Gwen." Jack said, smiling again. Gwen thought Jack might have been a bit too smug right then.

"Sod off Jack." Gwen pretended to hiss.

"You know you want it." Jack threw back good naturedly.

The next comeback would not come, Gwen was already under a blanket of sleep.

--

"How'd you sleep?" Jack asked, offering Gwen some coffee as she pushed back her sleep roused hair.

"Better -- for being _drugged_." Gwen said sharply.

"Not avoiding the ass feeling I see." Jack replied, as he brushed Gwen's hair back from her face. Jack's hand continued to brush down Gwen's face, leaving a path of electricity in its wake.

"I - I uh, should go -- call Rhys." Gwen fumbled slightly, pulling back from Jack.

"See you in a few hours Cooper." Jack called, leisurely, to the retreating form of Gwen Cooper.

--

Gwen stood atop the tallest building in Cardiff, she wasn't afraid to be up here, she guessed she never really had been.

But the question that haunted her now was this; if the night terror no longer occupied her dreams, what would?

Gwen refused to acknowledge the answer right then, favouring the few moments of undisturbed peace before it all started again.


End file.
